SW Provinces Coordinate in Developing Local EconomyHigh-ranking officials from six provinces and autonomous regions and two cities gathered Tuesday in Chongqing for the 16th Southwestern China Economic Coordination Meeting.The meeting, which opened today, aims to solidify cooperative relations among Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Chongqing, Chengdu and Tibet in their economic development. The officials will also discuss new measures in intensifying ecological protection in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River and Pearl River, as well as technological and human resources exchanges. He Guoqiang, secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, said the provinces and cities in southwest China share similar cultural background and customs, thus providing a good environment for making better use of each other's advantages. The seven members of the meeting have signed in the last fifteen years 17,000 cooperation contracts worth 65.1 billion yuan (about 7.81 billion U.S. dollars) in a variety of fields, such as tourism development, mineral resources exploration and poverty relief projects. The seven parties' total gross domestic product accounts for more than 70 percent of that of the 12 western China provinces. The southwestern area is rich in water and tourism resources and plantation and animal species. It is also an important industrial and national defense research and production base. The meeting was initiated in 1984 by Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Chongqing, then expanded with the participation of Chengdu and Tibet. Representatives from Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shandong and Fujian also attended this year's meeting. |
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